FUNDING A CURE

Obama Pledges $100M To AIDS Research, Bill Gates Throws In An Extra $200M For Kicks

obama-gatesPresident Barack Obama wants to cure HIV, making him officially the gayest president in U.S. history (no shade on James Buchanan). Yesterday, President Obama announced that he is directing $100 million into a new program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the sole purpose of which is to find new therapies to combat HIV.

The NIH’s funding got screwed thanks to sequester cuts earlier in the year, so the money should provide some much-needed, overdue relief.

“The United States should be at the forefront of new discoveries into how to put HIV into long-term remission without requiring lifelong therapies, or better yet, eliminate it completely,” the president said.

In addition, President Obama reiterated the U.S. commitment to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which finances efforts to fight infectious diseases in poor countries. Currently, the U.S. matches half of international contributions to the fund. President Obama pledged an additional $5 billion over the next three years, provided that the international community holds up its end of the deal.

Not content to allow Washington to hog the spotlight, gazillionaire genius/do-gooder Bill Gates also pledged a truckload of money to the Global Fund on Monday. Having previously announced a $300 million donation, Gates said that he would match an additional $200 million in private contributions, hoping to attract more donors.

Gates told reporters at the NIH, “Investing in research has huge paybacks.”

You know what else has huge paybacks? Founding Microsoft. Seriously, though, where are Bill and Melinda Gates’ Nobel Prizes already?

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